Psychz - Chaitenya
Votes: 0Posted On: May 23, 2017 03:46:15
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. HIPAA embodies a list of rights that the individual possess when it to comes to healthcare. Some of these rights are listed below.
1. Only you or your personal representative has the right to access your records. A health care provider or health plan may send copies of your records to another provider or health plan only as needed for treatment or payment or with your permission.
2. You can opt for a personal representative that can have access to your medical records.
3. In the case of a court order, the health care provider can present your medical records to the court.
4. It also provides the limitations of the health care provider in case asked for your medical record from your employer.
HIPAA Compliance
The Covered Entities and the Business Associates are the two sections that are expected to be HIPAA compliant or follow the HIPAA rules.
Covered Entities
1. Health Care Provider - Doctors, Clinics, Pharmacies etc.
2. Health Plan - Health Insurance Companies, HMOs, Company Health Plans etc.
3. Healthcare Clearinghouse - This includes entities that process nonstandard health information they receive from another entity into a standard (i.e., standard electronic format or data content), or vice versa.
Business Associates
These are the organization or personnel whose services are availed by the covered entities and it leads to disclosure of Patient Health Information (PHI) to the business associates.
The HIPAA compliance directs the covered entities and business associates to protect the privacy and security of patient's information at all times. If they fail to do so they can be held accountable as per the federal law. Also, they have to provide the individual with all the rights that he/she possesses under HIPAA. The covered entities must have a written and binding contract with the business associates declaring total privacy of patient information.
Please visit the HIPAA website to view all the rights in detail.
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/